


suburban love story

by spock



Category: 4th Man Out (2015)
Genre: Awkward First Times, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Gradual Realization of Feelings, Jealousy, M/M, Not On The Same Page, Post-Canon, Relationship Negotiation, They Made Themselves Do It, Yuleporn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 10:57:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8888224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spock/pseuds/spock
Summary: Gay dudes are fuckin' geniuses.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tannne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tannne/gifts).



Things with Rachel go as well as they ever do, which is to say that everything implodes for a reason he doesn't fully understand despite his failings being outlined to him in a near-itemized list, with such detail that the whole thing might as well have been bookended with a Powerpoint. Rachel's approach is different from the rest in that she doesn't shout them a few inches from his face. Instead she’s calm and methodical as she lays out the whys and hows Chris and she aren't working. What is the same is that by the time all this happens, Chris isn't all that broken up over the fact that they've broken up.

There’s a very real possibility that he feels better stepping out of her place than he did when crossed the door's threshold earlier that morning. Chris has got his phone out and is calling Adam before he's even got his ass planted in the driver's seat of his car. The best thing about getting dumped has always been the boys rallying together to hype him back up again.

"Hey," Adam says when he answers, the call finally connecting after it's rung a good six times. He sounds of out breath. Chris could have sworn that Adam has the day off, and since his lazy ass never goes to the gym unless Chris or Nick drag him there — which is _insane_ because Adam eats every meal like it's his last and hardly puts any work into his body, a body that Chris doesn't have to be gay to acknowledge looks fantastic, especially his stupidly thick chest. Adam sucks in a quick gasp of air that he clearly focuses on releasing as steadily as possible, which is when it all clicks for Chris.

There's no fucking way. "Dude, are you—"

"Yes." Adam's not even pretending to breathe normally now. "Yes, _yes_ , yes." There's a wet noise that will probably haunt Chris for the rest of his life, it's that burned into his psyche. Adam starts speaking again, words rushed and voice low. "I wasn't gonna pick up but then I remembered all the times you pulled this on me, so," and then he tails off, letting out a hiss.

Chris' face feels hot. He's still got one foot on the curb, driver's side door open. He notices that the hand he isn't using to hold his phone is resting really high up on his thigh and he nearly throws out his shoulder in his haste to relocate it to the steering wheel, planting it firmly at ten o'clock. "Wow," he says. "Okay. Well, say hi to Matt for me." His voice is doing something stupid, sounds like he's the one getting blown, and that is just so not okay.

He's slightly pissed that Adam's put him in this position, even though Adam’s right in bitching that he’s pulled the same shit on Adam more than once. But that was before — before Adam came out and Chris realized that there was nothing for Adam to enjoy when he eavesdropped besides, maybe, the noises Chris made; before Adam tried to kiss him out of self-described sad desperation because Chris was there and he had a dick, which had been the only two requirements Adam possessed at the moment; before Chris kissed Adam and was told that it was like kissing a brother.

It shouldn't matter, but for some reason it does.

He realizes that he's being petty when he says, "Just calling to let you know that Rachel dumped me. No rush," before he hangs up, swings the rest of himself into the car, shuts the door, and drives himself home.

 

*

 

All throughout them trying to find Adam a boyfriend, Chris hadn't actually considered what it would be like once Adam _had_ a boyfriend.

The few girls Adam dated in high school had always come dead-last on his list of priorities and sense of obligations, which should have been a huge clue both to his girlfriends and Chris, in retrospect. Adam never hesitated to ditch them in order to hang out with the boys, so Chris hasn't actually ever had to compete for his time. Even when Adam was apparently fucking around with Scott Lombardi underneath all their noses, he hadn't missed a single hangout or weekend trip with Chris and the boys.

Matt, though — Adam certainly makes time for Matt. It's the first time in his life that Adam has ever put Chris second on his list of priorities and Chris doesn't exactly love the feeling.

 

—

 

"I started to care about the fucking whales for him, man." Adam is trashed, the first time he's been dumped and actually felt it, actually cared — a milestone, one Chris hasn't actually encountered himself, even with the long list of assorted girlfriends that punctuate his dating history. "I set up a recurring donation. I called a fucking infomercial number for him!"

They're sat in a bar at the usual place, Adam by Chris' side. About twenty minutes ago he gave Adam a one-armed hug in dumped-solidarity and Adam had sort of collapsed into Chris' side and stayed there, Chris unable to take his arm back without some awkward maneuvering that wouldn't have conveyed much sympathy.

Truth is that he isn't feeling all that sympathetic. Matt was nice and all, a normal dude who came over to watch the Pens play a couple times, and who could pound back drinks as well as any of them, but there was something that kept Chris from liking him completely. Chris knows that he shouldn't be happy, but a part of him is. Adam's gotten his starter boyfriend out of the way and now Chris has an idea of what it's like when Adam's seeing someone. The next guy they find for him will be a better fit, Chris is sure of it.

"Wow man, that's real," Nick says. "I barely like calling the chicks I'm seeing. No way am I calling strangers for them too."

Chris kicks him under the table and makes an aggressive face at the affronted frown Nick shoots him. Adam groans and turns so that his face is pressed into Chris' neck. Chris shifts his arm so that he can pet a hand through Adam's hair.

"I'm so stupid." Adam's lips are practically touching Chris' skin. When he speaks it makes the hair stand up on the back of Chris' neck.

He shrugs to the side so that Adam's sitting upright again and then shifts in his seat so that he can put his other hand on Adam's shoulder, giving him a shake. "Dude, no," he says. "You're just behind the curve since this is your first real breakup and most of us had to go through this shit in high school. You're all caught up now, man. One of the club! I get dumped all the fucking time."

"By skanky girls too," Ortu says, rejoining them at the table with a fresh round of drinks. "Chris can't even keep skanky girls, Adam. At least your dude was classy."

"Chris is a skank too," Nick argues.

"True." Ortu raises his glass and Nick does the same. "Skank begets skank." Their glasses make an obnoxious sound when they clink them together.

Adam brings his hands up to his face and rubs at his eyes with his fingertips, head dropped back to rest against the top of their booth’s seating. "He was really classy. God, he was fucking great."

The three of them share a look at that. Nick breaks the momentary silence with, "Nah man, fuck ‘em. Did that dude even have any friends? You can't trust a guy who has to mooch off his boyfriend's group." Ortu and Chris makes noises of agreement.

Adam drops his hands back into his lap, revealing a frown. "I don't think he actually introduced me to any of his friends. I met some people that he worked with but that's it. Is that a bad sign?" He's starting to freak out again, which Chris needs to nip in the fucking bud.

"It means that he's a loser without any friends of his own, which is a major fucking red flag, man. He probably did you a favor by ending it."

There's a bit of a pause that feels like it's due to take the morning-after pill, but once it passes Adam reaches for his drink and downs it in one go. Ortu pushes a shot in his direction and asks meekly, "Getting gay?" Adam gives him a stoic nod and knocks that back as well, before picking up the spare that would've been for Chris had he not volunteered to be tonight's driver and swallows that one down as well.

The three of them get absolutely hammered under Chris' jealous glare. He has them pack it in around two and takes them back to Ortu's cave, shoving Nick onto the couch and Adam into the bed while Ortu giggles his way up to the second floor to join his finance.

Since Chris _isn't_ trashed and does love himself, he takes the time to brush his teeth using a finger and some stolen toothpaste that he found shoved into the drawer of the basement's bathroom before pulling one of Ortu's shirts from the dryer. He changes, left in it and his own boxers to sleep in. He joins Adam in the bed and realizes that his friend is still awake, staring forlornly at the ceiling.

It isn't much of a debate when he decides to crawl into Adam's space and say, in his most adoring voice, "I'll be your boyfriend, Adam. I hear you're really great in bed. I could do with some multiple orgasms."

Adam laughs. Chris smiles.

"No, I'm Spartacus!" Nick knots himself into the blanket Chris had thrown over him and falls to the floor in a gangly, beard heap. Adam and he watch as Nick somehow drunkenly makes it to his feet and stumbles the few steps to the bed, getting in on Adam's side and shoving until both Adam and Chris have to move over closer to Chris' side of the bed, Adam sandwiched between Nick and him.

"I'm sorry you got dumped, Adam." Nick's eyes are bloodshot to hell. "Don't tell Ortu," he says, and then leans in and kisses Adam right on the lips.

Chris just kind of — stares. He's still got one leg thrown over both of Adam's. His arm is still clutching dramatically at Adam's shirt, right over his heart, now trapped thanks to Nick's near dead-weight as he lays slumped on top of Adam in order to reach Adam’s mouth and kiss him. He can feel it when Adam makes a noise, how it originates from deep in his chest, right under where Chris' hand is.

Nick springs away and he and Adam kind of stare at one another, both of their eyes wide. Chris wonders if they even remember that he's in the room. "Shit," Adam says. "I think I like beards?"

"Fuckin' knew it." Nick looks insufferably smug. He shifts back onto the bed, which places him snug against Adam's side rather than on top of him, a mirror image of Chris' own position, and drops his head onto Adam's chest. "You don't gotta settle for skanky-ass Chris, Adam." Nick cuts himself off with a yawn, shakes out his blanket so that it's spread over him and Adam, the edge of it just barely reaching Chris.

 

*

 

Chris wakes up to Ortu taking pictures of them. Memories of the pervious night come back quickly and he doesn't even hesitate as he says, "Nick made out with Adam." A wave of satisfaction rushes through him at Ortu's gasp and he watches with zen serenity as Ortu practically slaps Nick awake so that he can interrogate him over it.

Adam ignores the commotion, rolling away from Nick's screeching and, as a result, burying his face into Chris' chest. Chris pats him on the back a few times and closes his own eyes again, idly wondering what time it is and if they can sleep in a little longer.

He nearly convulses off the side of the bed when Adam's phone starts vibrating in his pocket, Adam's hip situated way closer to Chris' crotch than Chris had first realized, the vibrations pressed against Chris’ dick and damn near giving him a heart attack.

Adam ignores it, just as he's willfully blocking out everything else, but Chris doesn't exactly have that luxury. He reaches into Adam's pocket and fishes out his phone. _Mom_ is emblazoned across the screen and Chris doesn't second-guess his first instinct to thumb across the glass.

"Hey, Karen," he says, stuffing the phone between his ear and the pillow. Nick and Ortu quiet down, switching from screeching to an aggravated whisper, low enough that it's only discernible between the two of them. Adam's eyes pop open for the first time that morning.

"Oh, hello Chris," Karen says, her voice not exactly even. "Did you and Adam go out last night?"

"Yup. The whole gang, boy's night." Adam starts shaking his head and Chris decides to leave out that the reason they strayed from their usual hangout night was for a dual emergency breakup commiseration. "Adam's still asleep."

"That boy," she says. There's so much fondness tinging her exasperation that it makes Chris smile. Adam mouths _what?!_ and Chris winks at him. "Chris, please remind him about his cousin's wedding!" She then goes on about how she doesn't want to hear any excuses and how Adam and his plus one better have their butts on the road before noon if they're going to make it up to Wilkes-Barre in time for the rehearsal. Chris dutifully _Yes, Karen_ s throughout her rant and then says goodbye when she hangs up.

Chris doesn't bother removing the phone from where it's wedged against his cheek. "Dude," he says to Adam, "your mom is flipping the fuck out. You better get home and haul ass."

"No." Adam groans, shifting more onto his side so that he can hide his face in his pillow for a few seconds before moving back so that one eye is pointed at Chris. "It's gonna be so fucking awkward. I know mom told everybody about me being gay and having a boyfriend after I plus-oned. I can't show up as the sad, gay, dateless cousin after she went through all that work threatening them to be nice to me."

Ortu pops into Chris' field of vision from over Adam's shoulder and says, "Why don't you take Nick? Seems like you two are dating now." Adam's leg kicks out behind himself, shoving Nick and Ortu off the bed and onto the basement's floor.

"Ow, what the fuck?" Nick's voice calls up. "Also! Um, naw? My one grand gesture was the kiss and I’d been planning on saving it for when Adam's future husband cheated on him or some shit. I blew that load prematurely, sorry Adam."

"What else is new?" Ortu asks, and then suddenly he and Nick are wrestling around on the bedroom floor.

Chris ignores them. "Hey man, I'll go with you if you really don't want to go alone."

Adam flops onto his back now that there's only the two of them in the bed and looks at Chris with narrowed eyes. "Are you sure, man? I can suck it up. Weddings are boring as shit."

"Hell yeah, dude!" Chris smiles and reaches out to punch Adam in the stomach, light, teasing. "A weekend hanging out with you and getting to mooch fancy food? Twist my fuckin' arm."

"Cool." Adam laughs; it's clear to anybody with eyes that he's relieved as hell. "But you can't hit on any of my cousins or anything, Chris, I'm serious. My mom will kick my ass if you stir up drama on the rebound."

Chris drops a hand over his heart, putting on his best hurt-face. "Rude! I was just dumped too, you know. I can keep it in my pants." Adam looks dubious at best but he keeps his damn mouth shut, so Chris lets the look pass without comment. "Alright, get your ass up. We gotta swing by my place first so I can dig a suit out the back of my closet and then we'll head to yours."

They do just that, leaving Ortu and Nick to their WWE recreation and hitting up the Starbucks drive-through before going to Chris' place, then Adam's. Packed, showered, caffeinated, and half-fed, they're on the highway headed north before noon.

 

—

 

"Well I can't say this is much of a surprise!"

It's the fifth time they've been told that in thirty minutes and Chris still isn't sure if he should be offended or not. Of course, the momentary shock from people assuming he's the guy Adam's recently started dating combined with the family's complete _lack_ of surprise that the kid who’s been trailing along after Adam since middle school — which, with the retrospect of Chris thinking about it in that way, has him realizing that they might not be wrong in deciding it's a non-surprise, given the framing — is now Adam’s boyfriend hadn't stopped Chris from thinking on his feet and cutting Adam off mid-stuttered _it's not what it looks like_ and had Chris proudly proclaiming, "I know right?" before taking Adam's hand into his own and shooting Adam an overly-soppy, fond look.

Adam's gotten with the program, now. "I think we always knew, too," he says, giving the hand still holding Chris' a friendly shake.

"Better late than never," Chris agrees. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Adam's uncle duck away while they're distracted, probably hoping get the hell out of dodge before they hit level two of Young Love.

Adam and he drop the act a little when they're alone, fingers still loosely tangled for all the nosey relatives that are undoubtedly watching. They make their way over to the buffet table at a leisurely pace, Chris scoping out the spread.

"What are you gonna do when news gets back to them that you're dating some chick again?" Adam asks.

"Eh, whatever." Chris lets go of Adam's hand to pick himself up a plate, starting to pile it high with food. "You can make a joke about it being a ‘phase to remember’ during your best man speech at my wedding or whatever. Dude, chill."

Another one of Adam's cousins pops up then, not even bothering to hide his fascination. He's one or two years younger than them, went to a different high school. Of course that wouldn't have stopped him from hearing all about Chris' reputation. "Trisha told me when I came in but I still can't believe it," he says with a shake of his head. "You're seriously gay now, Chris?"

"Nope, bi," Chris says, shooting a look to Adam out of the corner of his eye to add on, _see? Exit strategy: sorted_. He shifts his plate to his left hand and throws the other arm across Adam's shoulders, pulling Adam into his side and pressing a kiss to Adam's temple. "Hurry up and grab a plate babe, the drive kicked my ass."

Adam starts loading up and Chris stays close as he makes his way down the table, arm still keeping Adam held to his side. "I told you to let me switch," Adam says.

Chris lets a wolfish grin settle onto his face. He drops his voice like he means for it to be a whisper, even though he knows that it'll carry to Adam's cousin, who's still loitering around the table and looking at them like they're a zoo exhibition. "Baby," Chris says, "you know that I like drivin' the car so that you can drive in bed. I don't wanna hear anything about switching either."

Adam just about swallows his tongue and elbows Chris right in the solar plexus. It's a juggling act to prevent Adam from wiggling out of his grasp as Chris struggles to hold his own plate steady, but he manages.

The rest of the evening carries on like that, Adam's family accepting and, for the most part, unimpressed to find that Chris is the new boyfriend — if anything, they say, it's a shock to hear that the two of them are _new_.

A minor hiccup to their scheme occurs when Karen comes barreling over to their table, demanding to know what the hell it is that they're up to. Adam, a horrific liar for someone who managed to convince all those closest to him that he actually liked chicks for over twenty years, freezes up predictably. Chris takes it in slide.

"Adam broke it off with Matt," Chris says, and this time he does actually keep his voice down. "And I was there to comfort him and then one thing led to another and here we are." Sticking close to the truth is always the best way to sell a lie. Even if Karen calls bullshit, Chris is pretty sure that she won't kick up an actual scene this weekend. There's no way she'd ruin Ben's wedding.

"Oh honey," Karen says, giving Chris a pitying looking. "I could tell that you were jealous of Matt but I didn't know it was that bad! I guess you really don't know how you feel about something until you've lost it, huh?" She lays her hand overtop of Chris', giving it a gentle squeeze.

Chris has — no idea how to respond to that.

"Um," Adam says, looking at his mom like she's grown another head, with a side order of losing her mind. "Yeah, mom, so please don't say anything?" He bites his lip, which is a pro fucking move. Chris can see Karen softening up to Adam already and Chris can't blame her, that look gets Chris every time too. "I don't want them to think I'm slutty for being gay."

"Oh honey," she says again, before pressing a kiss not just to Adam's cheek but Chris' as well. She smiles at them one last time before heading back to the table where Adam's father and sister are at, surely on her way to fill them in.

A thought occurs to Chris. "Shouldn't we be sitting over there?"

"I'm sure as fuck not going over there now," Adam says. "Besides, Ben's financée didn't want assigned seating."

The weekend goes by quick, that small hiccup notwithstanding. Chris has a great time; Adam and he take a ton of really obnoxious couple-photos together, Chris escalating each one by introducing a kiss or cuddle into the mix right before the shutter closes. Adam humors him for the most part, dutifully playing the stoic boyfriend as Chris proclaims his undying love for him.

As they're driving back to the 'burgh, Chris says, "I'm gonna miss dating you, bro," and isn't really surprised in the slightest when he realizes that he actually means it. Being Adam’s boyfriend was a million times more fun than being anyone else’s had ever been.

"I am pretty great," Adam says.

Chris takes his left hand off the wheel for a few seconds just so that he can punch Adam in the shoulder for being such a prideful little shit, but that doesn't mean Chris doesn't agree with him. Adam is pretty great, and Chris is sure that Adam won't be single for long if he has anything to say about it. Adam deserves a dude just as great as he is, and Chris is gonna help him find that dude.

 

*

 

"So turns out we aren't broken up yet." Chris is whispering into the phone at his desk, hunched over the receiver like he's some creep from Notre-Dame.

"What?" Adam's end of the line sounds like a damn war zone, power tools going off in the background, just barely drowning out Stoner Paul yelling about something or another behind that.

Chris grunts in frustration. "Tagged pictures of you and me showed up on my feed and now everybody in the office is talking about my boyfriend." Adam doesn't say anything, so Chris stresses to add, "That would be you, Adam."

"Uh, okay?" Adam says. "So tell them it was a joke? I don't know, man."

"A joke! Dude we just had sensitivity training like last month. HR will fire my ass so quick if I go, 'haha, my buddy and I thought it would be so hilarious to trick his family into thinking we're fucking!' Are you kidding me?"

Adam still sounds unconvinced. "Does me actually being gay count for nothing?"

"Fuck you and fuck you being gay," Chris says, so quickly that the words all kind of mush together, but it's the only way that he can get away with saying something like that in the office and Adam knows him well enough to parse out what he's said anyway. "We're doing this dinner thing tonight after work for Columbus Day and you better fucking show up, Adam. I came through for you, you better come through for me!"

"Jesus." Adam sighs. "Alright, yeah okay. I'll leave out early to clean up and then meet you outside your office, alright?"

"Thank you," Chris says. "That's what I like to hear." He sits up straight again raises his voice to it's normal volume. "Alright, see you at five then, babe. Love you."

 

—

 

The lie kind of — keeps on rolling.

The best gym in town is this huge fancy joint run by gay dudes, and is unofficially-for-gay-dudes so when Nick mentions that they're doing some kind of couples membership discount Chris and Adam's eyes lock so quickly you'd think they had planned it. They're all over one another when they go in to sign up that following weekend, which scores them some free merch with the gym's name all over it. "You guys are gonna be good for our brand," one of the owners says to them, after Chris straight-up kisses Adam on the mouth.

They've just left a matinee showing of some cheap-Tuesday action flick and are wondering around downtown when they spot a bakery that boasts _two-for-one for any lovers out there_ and their hands slot together like magnets as they make a bee-line for the door.

Then there's the couple's night at a bar that they've all been wanting to try out forever but have only just gotten around to, which ends up being an accident too. They don't even find out about the promotion until they're at the front of the queue, Chris killing time by playing with Adam's hair, asking teasing questions about when he's finally gonna cave and cut it, when the bouncer says that Adam and he don't have to pay a cover since they're together but that Ortu and Nick better pony up if they want in, which they suitably bitch about all the way through each of them ordering a drink, waiting for it to be served, and then finding an open table table that'll sit four.

Chris keeps his a hand around Adam's waist the entire time, not wanting to lose him in the crowd. "Dude," he says, "I never noticed all the free shit you get when you're in a relationship! This is like, discrimination against single people!"

"Don't even fucking talk to me," Nick says. He's been moping all week. Chris and Adam have been hitting up their new swanky gay gym every night after getting off of work and Chris hasn't held back from posting a frankly obnoxious amount of pictures focused on him and Adam being cute around the gym to his 'gram. He's pretty sure that Andy, one half of the owning couple, is about five minutes away from offering to sponsor them for real.

Chris takes a long pull of his drink, smacking his lips before pressing a quick kiss to Adam's cheek. Adam's never shied away from Chris' over-the-top affection, not even that first time that Chris had kissed him, but after the last month he’s begun to pretty much let Chris do whatever-Chris-wants to him as long as it results in them getting free and/or cool swag. Their relationship is pure and wonderful and Chris doesn't blame Nick for being a salty little prick about it. "Beard up with Ortu, sucka," he says.

Nick makes a noise of disgust. "I shoulda kept hold of my Adam-dibs when I had the chance. The only reason you guys get special treatment is because he's so cute, anyway."

"Excuse me?" Chris hates that he's actually insulted. "I'm a fucking greek god."

"Naw," Ortu says, joining in. He's dicking around with his phone and not really paying attention to them; probably texting his wife, the loser. "Adam's got the face that you wanna see while he fucks you." He pauses, frowning. "Or you fuck him? Adam, what is it that you like, anyway?"

"Uh," Adam says.

"What he likes keeps me satisfied, okay?" Adam snipes. "Jesus, here I was thinking I was the catch but it turns out everybody thinks I'm the fuckin' lucky one?"

"Sorry?" Adam looks like he's a little insulted, so Chris uses the inside of his elbow to hook around Adam's neck and pull his face close so that Chris can kiss him on the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, alright this is creepy," Nick says, sending a withering look Chris' way. Chris glares right back even though he has no idea what Nick is pissed about now. "Adam," Nick asks, "When are you gonna get back out there again, anyway?"

"The hell man." Chris lets go of Adam and shifts so that he's facing Nick, who's sitting directly opposite him at their table. "What about me?"

Nick honest-to-god rolls his eyes. "Who gives a shit about you? Plus you seem happy just the way you are. Besides, Adam's the one with has more of a chance landing someone."

 _What the fuck_ , Chris thinks. That is way too mean for a Saturday night hangout.

"What the fuck? Why are you giving me the third degree?" Adam says.

Nick scoffs and mutters something about going to dance before he drains his drink in one long pull and then gets up to do just that. Chris thinks about following him but Ortu waves him off. "Leave 'em," he says. "He's been in a mood all week."

 

*

 

It's a Hockey Night In Pittsburgh, which means they've all gotta watch the game together and it's Adam's turn to host. Chris heads straight to Adam’s place after work, coming in through the back door and joining Adam in the kitchen to help him finish setting up.

Their phones both light up at the same time; Adam glances over Chris' shoulder instead of fetching his own on from the other side of the kitchen. _Can't make it_ , Nick's text says.

"Ugh, lame," Adam says, and then turns back to where he's cutting carrots into squares. If Nick were here he'd say that it's called julienning, but he isn't and so Chris doesn't have to put up with fun-facts that he couldn’t care less about.

Speaking of —

"Dude, no Nick."

Adam makes a noise of interest but doesn't turn away from what he's doing. Chris groans, "Dude, no Nick means you, me, and Ortu can have wine without Nick's punkass giving us shit for it."

Adam does turn round at that, his face brightening. "Dude!"

Chris waits for Adam to shrug into some big oversized pull-over hoodie and then both of them jog the half-block to the bodega just around the corner from Adam's place. They wave at the cool old guy who runs the place and then head straight to the wine section.

There's a kid who keeps poking his head into the aisle from around the corner, probably middle-school aged but he could very well be a freshman who hasn't hit his growth-spurt yet. At first Chris thinks he's fixing to swipe a bottle of booze — which is so _not_ on, Mr. Farshid doesn't deserve that shit — but then he realizes the kid is creeping on Adam, which is...pretty adorable, honestly. There's nothing he hates more than admitting that Nick is right about anything, ever, but it seems like he was right about this: it's Adam who brings all the boys to the yard.

Which is as it should be, seeing as Adam's the gay one. That kind of skill would be wasted on the rest of them.

Chris decides to fuck with the kid a little bit and comes up behind Adam, wrapping his arms around Adam's middle and stuffing his hands into the big pocket at the front of Adam's hoodie. He nuzzles his nose into Adam's cheek and whispers, "Little dude, four o'clock."

Adam sends a subtle look the kids way and then huffs out a quiet laugh, his expression going really soft in a way that Chris can make out even with their faces so close together. Then Adam turns and presses a maybe-kinda lingering kiss to Chris' lips, before he's pulling away to wink in the kids direction and then heads off to the front of the store to pay, the neck of the bottle of wine he's picked out held loosely in his hand.

Chris, though, he's rooted in his fucking place. He feels like he's having a goddamn stroke, his heart going no less than a mile a minute. He's more flustered that he ever remembers being because of _anyone_ , let alone some goofball nerd like Adam, and he realizes that even through their kissing average has risen way above what's acceptable for friends who don't even have benefits, this is the first time Adam's initiated a kiss with him since the wayward attempt that came to nothing when Adam read the signals wrong and thought Chris was putting the moves on him.

Somehow he makes his way to the front of the store and waves goodbye to Mr. Farshid alongside Adam. They walk home in what Chris is sure would otherwise be companionable silence if he didn't feel like everything he's ever known about himself was a lie. When they get back to Adam's, Chris is awkward as fuck. He can _tell_ that he's being awkward as fuck.

Ortu's name pops up on his phone, a response to their group chat saying that the wife needs him for something, so he's going to have to bail on tonight as well. Chris is disgusted with how excited he is that Adam and he are gonna be alone.

He brushes against Adam more than could ever be necessary as they bring their snacks from the kitchen and into the living room. The third time Chris bumps into him and says, "sorry," has Adam starting to give him weird looks, but Adam doesn't actually comment on it. Chris tells himself to stop, but finds that he _can't_.

He sits way too close to Adam, their thighs touching. Chris has an arm thrown around the back of the couch before Adam has finished settling into his own cushion. Chris manages to get ahold of himself and acts relatively normal from the start of the first period until about the mid-way mark, which is to say a good ten minutes, give or take a few TV time-outs. He may laugh a little too loudly at Adam's not-really funny observations and spend too much time staring at Adam out of the corner of his eye instead of actually watching the game, but Chris figures that he's allowed. Doing anything that isn’t literally throwing himself at Adam feels like a victory right now.

Adam's leaning over him for something and it's like the world has switched into slow motion. Chris realizes that this is his chance to right the mistake he made before he realized that he was into — dudes, Adam, whatever. The universe has set him up with the perfect assist to rebound on his whiffed shot and all Chris has to do is not fuck up, not blow it like he did last time.

Chris knows what he stands to gain now. He's got this.

He's kissed Adam more times than he can probably recall with any accuracy. It isn't hard to get their lips and noses lined up correctly, even with his eyes closed. It feels like all the other times they've kissed, and more. Chris feels comfort, familiarity, excitement, hope. His risk feels instantly validated when Adam doesn't shy away or jump back. Chris peeks out from under his eyelids to see what expression is on Adam's face, if it's as content and excited as Chris feels, and finds that Adam is — staring at Chris.

Chris pulls back from the kiss slowly. "Uh," he says, before deciding to just lay his cards on the table and go for broke. What’s the worst that could happen? "So...what if we dated for real?"

Adam doesn't say anything. It’s possible that Chris has made a huge mistake.

The doorbell rings.

Adam practically falls over himself to get off the couch and run to answer it.

"I decided to come after all," Nick's voice says, carrying all the way into the living room, halfway across the house.

"That's great!" Adam says. "So great. Like, really great. The first period isn't even done. You got here just in time."

They walk into the living room and Chris shoots Adam a smile, one that Adam doesn't return. Nick sits down right in the middle of the couch and Adam settles in on his other side. Chris wishes that his hair was longer just so that he could tear the shit out from his head.

"Dude, I'm away for like an hour and suddenly you homos are drinking wine during a game? What kind of weird kinky foreplay shit?" Nick laughs, nodding at their mostly-full glasses.

"Um," Adam says, "I think I want to try dating again." It's a statement, not a question, but it sounds like he's phrasing it to them in that way. Chris isn't sure what to make of it. Is Adam gaming himself up to tell Nick that he and Chris are gonna start real-dating? Is this him rejecting Chris? Something else?

"About fucking time," Nick says, and he genuinely sounds relieved, clearly not having the same internal meltdown that Chris is experiencing. There goes the half-formed theory Chris hadn’t even realized his mind was fostering, that Nick was secretly in love with Adam too, jealous over Chris not-dating him, like not-gay dudes lusting after Adam is a normal thing.

"Yeah. Um, I gotta go to the bathroom." Adam stands again and practically flees from the room.

Nick stares after him for a second and then turns to Chris, punching him hard in the thigh. "The fuck did you do?" He asks in a whisper.

"Dude, what? Nothing!" Chris rubs at his thigh. Nick has never hit him that hard. He's surprised at how much it genuinely hurts.

"I get that you're like serially monogamous for whatever falls into your lap and is easy, but you gotta let Adam get back on that horse, man." Nick is practically seething, his face flushing, the color bleeding down beneath his beard. "He's been using as a crutch or excuse or whatever since high school but right now he needs an actual boyfriend."

The thought has Chris seeing red. "I'm basically his boyfriend, right?" Chris asks. "What's the fucking difference?"

"The difference is that you're not actually going to fuck him!"

"What if —" Adam realizes that he's a few decibels from shouting and dials it back. "What if," he says again, "I'd be willing to try."

"Jesus Christ." Nick huffs, shakes his head, snorts, huffs again. "Oh dude, what the fuck. First, he isn't even attracted to you, remember? And second, it's really shitty to treat your best friend as some kind of sexuality litmus test just because you've decided you wanna give dick a try. Go practice on someone else."

"It's not like that." Chris feels his stomach drop to his feet, because what if it is and he's too selfish to know it?

"The fuck it's not," Nick says, judge, jury, executioner.

Adam comes back from the bathroom and that's the end of the conversation. The rest of the night is awkward, all three of them walking on eggshells. Nick stays after the game to help them clean up, an absolute first in all the time that they've known him.

"You sure you don't want me to stay?" Nick asks after they're all done, subtle as a goddamn bull in a china shop.

Adam laughs, confused. "Um, no? Are you afraid to go home?"

Nick rolls his eyes and pulls Adam into a hug, giving Chris the stink-eye over Adam's shoulder. "G'night, losers," he says, and then he's gone.

Chris waits precisely three seconds after the door closes behind Nick to say, "We have a really great time together, all the time."

Adam looks like this is the last conversation he wants to be having in the world. It makes Chris' heart ache, but he knows that the best stuff is worth fighting for, and all that. "Yeah," Adam says, "because we're best friends? So let’s just, y'know — stay best friends? A best friend and a boyfriend are two separate things."

"Do they have to be, though?" Chris is aware that he sounds pathetic. It's worth the humiliation, even if Adam's the only one to witness it. _Especially_ because Adam's the only one to witness it, since he's the only one who matters. "Why can't we just try?"

"Uh, dude." Adam's voice starts getting rough, jagged, the way it always does when he's starting to get pissed, something that's rare for such a chill dude like him. Chris is glad that he's able to generate some kind of response in Adam, even if it's only pissing him off. His mind has a spare thought for how hot Adam is when he's pissed and that's certainly new. "Maybe because the last time I misunderstood and accidentally thought you were trying to put the moves on me — when I didn't even like you like that, anyway! — we nearly lost our friendship over it? Because _you_ freaked out about it. What happens when there's actually feelings involved?"

"I promise I won't," Chris says, because it's an easy promise to make. He can tell as soon as the words leave his mouth that Adam already doesn't believe him. "Dude, I'm serious, nothing can fuck up our friendship. Imagine how good it'd be if it actually works, huh? 'sides, do you wanna live with the regret of not trying?"

"Kinda!" Adam shouts. "I'm not losing sleep over the what-if's of you and me, man. I have serious doubts of me even being able to get it up for you." By the end there Adam's voice had returned to it's usual volume, sounding a bit contrite, like he knows it isn’t something Chris wants to hear. Chris appreciates that he actually feels bad about it, at least.

"We've been kissing for a couple months now," Chris says, feeling like he's trying to keep sand from slipping through his fingers. "Are you saying that you haven't felt anything?"

Adam runs a hand through his hair, paces a little in the short space of his hallway. "Not really? Like, it's nice because you're a dude and not-ugly, and our kisses usually happen when we're having a good time anyway, so it's not _bad_. But no, like, I haven't been jacking off thinking about you this whole time."

Chris knows that this is the part where he's supposed to say that he hadn't either, but still! But —

That just isn't true, because he has. Adam's been popping up unexpectedly in his jerk-off fantasies and sexy time since he came out to Chris and the guys. Chris may have only just realized that he has feeling-feelings for Adam tonight, but Adam's been hovering around the edges of damn near every orgasm that Chris has had since they sorted their shit out at Ortu's barbecue. That's the whole reason why he somehow expected to propose this idea and have Adam be right there with him. He hadn't realized that they were on such different pages, practically living in completely different books.

'I think,' Chris wants to say. 'I think I've probably been bi since forever but I like girls more so it's not a huge deal and I haven't had to deal with it. I also think that I've been a little bit in love with you since we were kids and I never had to deal with that since you always treated me like a boyfriend anyway, even if you’ve apparently never even wanted to kiss me, but now you're actually having boyfriends and it's fucking me up, man. It's making me reevaluate some shit. And now that I've actually let myself think about us together, I really, really want it. And I think if you can stop looking at me like a brother or whatever, then you'll see that you want it too.

Or I hope so, at least.'

But he doesn't say any of that, because if there's one thing that Chris knows it’s that Adam loves to avoid change like the plague for as long as he lives, is willing to suffer just to keep things as close to how they’ve always been, even if that change isn't actually any kind of change at all, just people taking a second look what they thought they already knew.

"Man," Chris says, swallowing all the other words back and feeling pissed that Nick deserves co-credit for what he's about to pull next, a sense of satisfaction knowing that Nick would be absolutely furious if he knew what he was doing. "Honestly? I just really want to try it out and you're the only dude I trust. Please? Like, not to get all blackmail-y but I was super fucking there for you when you came out, so can you at least consider it? Just so that I can see if I really am bi or whatever, or if us not-dating has been messing with my head? No feelings involved at all man, I promise."

Adam doesn’t look like he buys that excuse at all.

Adam says he'll think about it.

Chris lets his stubble grow out for the five days it takes for Adam to finally call him back and say _okay_.

 

—

 

Chris has Adam over for dinner and it's awkward right from the moment Adam steps through the front door. Chris takes Adam's jacket from him and then leans in for a kiss, which Adam shies away from. That about sets the mood for the rest of the night.

"Hey," Adam says, their normally easy way around one another suddenly stilted, foreign.

Chris tries to laugh it off. "Hey to you too, you weirdo." It gets Adam to finally look him in the eyes and when Adam does, he does a literal double-take.

"Oh fuck you, man." Adam's blushing. Chris grins.

"You like it?" He scratches his fingernails against the grain of his beard.

"Can we just," Adam says, before changing his mind. "Will the food keep? I can't sit through eating with this hanging over us. Let's just get it over with."

"Because that's what I want to hear before I fuck somebody: ‘let's just get it over with’." Adam winces and mutters that he didn't mean it like that. Chris isn't so sure, but he doesn't comment otherwise. "You don't — you don't have to do it, if you really don't want to, dude. I wanna do this but no so much that I wanna force you into it."

Adam sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, making it stick up in weird shapes when he pulls his hands away. "No, like, you're right. It's been a good couple months and there's no harm and seeing if we can make that side of it work, too, since we’re so good at everything else. Besides, I wanna be here for you, for the bi thing. Who knows, a boyfriend might be what you need to help you turn around that shitty dating record of yours," Adam jokes.

"Maybe _you're_ what I need."

Their eyes meet when Adam says, "maybe," and for the first time it seems like he might actually believe it.

He slowly makes his way to Chris, long legs eating up the few steps between them easily. He doesn't stop once their chests are touching, keeps stepping so that Chris has to walk backwards to keep from being bowled over. Chris’ back hits the wall and then Adam's hands come up to cradle his face, Adam's lips moving in for a kiss.

It's really good, mouths open, just the right about of spit. Adam's completely controlling the pace of their mouths, something Chris isn't used to at all, not even with the more aggressive girls he's dated, so it's different, but not bad in the least. Chris keeps up with Adam's pace, follows Adam's mouth to wherever it wants to take him.

Adam pulls away and mumbles that they should maybe head to the bedroom. Chris couldn't agree more.

They lay on their sides in the middle of Chris' mattress, continuing to trade lazy kisses. Chris decides to take a chance and pulls the back of Adam's shirt from where it's tucked into his jeans, slides a hand up the length of Adam's spine. Adam lets out a pleased little sound, so Chris figures he's on the right track. He explores Adam's side, his flank, the strong width of his shoulders, all of it before he realizes that he's the only one doing the touching. He pulls back just enough to say, "Now do me, man."

"Oh," Adam says. He sits up, which Chris doesn't like, and then pulls off his own shirt over his head, which Chris does. Then he's reaching for Chris and tugging Chris shirt off as well. All in all it's a net-win, especially when Adam lays back down and picks up where their last kiss left off, his hands now touching Chris' pecs, his stomach.

It's all great, amazing even, until Chris' dick gets so hard that above-the-waist shit just ain't gotta cut it anymore. "Aren't we too old for makeout sessions?"

"Don't knock it," Adam murmurs. "I didn't get nearly enough of the makeout sessions I wanted."

Chris hates that he actually whines. "But we can do _more_."

"Lucky us," Adam says, laughing. His hand drops down between them and he undoes Chris' jeans with just two fingers.

"Wow," Chris says, a little breathless. "You're a pro."

Adam laughs at him again. "Yeah, I do it just about every day." Pants dealt with, Adam slides his hand into the tight fabric of Chris' boxer-briefs, the snug fit making it easy for his fingers to catch on Chris' dick and get to work.

"Fuck," Chris says, because — fuck. It's good, really good. His face must be emoting that really well, because Adam grins and switches up his grip, taking Chris into a firmer hold before slipping his other hand inside Chris' briefs too. The new hand grabs Chris' balls, rolling them, and Chris mumbles _no, no, no,_ before he comes.

Adam stills, says, "Oh." Then the motherfucker laughs.

"Oh my god," Chris says, mortified. "You absolute bastard. Are multiple orgasms an actual thing? I was just fucking kidding!"

"When you've got it," Adam brags, and it sounds weird coming from him. Adam hardly ever boasts about anything, way too shy to ever dare, but Chris has never seen Adam in this setting, so what does he know about what's the usual? Chris knows that he likes it, this Adam with sure fingers and a smug grin on his face. Chris likes it a lot.

Adam pulls his hands out from Chris' pants, one of them covered in Chris' release. Adam looks at it, and then looks at Chris. Chris doesn't move the majority of his body as he stretches his arm out to grab the box of tissues he keeps on his bedside table for precisely these occasions. Adam beats him to the punch, bringing his hand up to his mouth and _holy_ fucking _shit_ , licking —

Chris wonders if it's possible for a person to actually swoon in real life, because it feels like he's doing it. "Yeah," he says, feeling more than a little lightheaded, "multiple orgasms are totally gonna be a thing."

Adam seems to be doing nothing but laughing. Chris doesn't remember a time where somebody laughed this much in bed with him. He always assumed that it would be a bad sign, but this is all so damn fun, embarrassing premature ejaculation notwithstanding. Adam's still laughing when he dips his head to kiss Chris, and then he freezes. Chris frowns and pulls him down the rest of the way, both of his hands resting on either side of Adam's neck, his fingers tangling in the back of Adam's hair.

"Sorry," Adam says, speaking into the kiss, his words coming out slick and slightly incomprehensible. "I was worried you didn't want to taste your own stuff, or whatever."

Chris takes Adam's lead and gives his reply through the kiss as well. "Man, I don't care about that. I just wanna kiss you."

The kiss peters out until they're pressing little short pecks onto one another's mouths, and then Adam pulls away for good. "Are you ready to eat?" He asks. "I'm kinda hungry."

"Uh, no?" Chris says, like Adam's lost his damn mind, because that seems likely. "You haven't even gotten off yet."

"That's alrig—" Adam starts to say, before Chris cuts him off.

"Dude, no it's not. We're meant to be having sex, not you giving me a brojob or whatever fuckin' Nick was talking about from that weird straight-dudes-who-have-sex-with-other-dudes exposé thing. This is a two-way street."

"No really," Adam stresses, "it's okay."

"Not it's not!" This is absolutely a hill that Chris is willing to die on.

Adam breathes out really slowly and then closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he says, "I like doing the fucking. So if we go all the way, that's how it's gonna go."

"Sure," Chris agrees. "I mean, kinda throwing me in the deep end but — I'm down."

Adam doesn't look convinced. "We can just stick to hand-stuff, this time. Or maybe you can use your mouth." Chris really, really likes that Adam said _this time_.

But still, he isn't about to settle for any of that. "No!" Chris argues, "I want this to be good for you. Like, I'm already sold on us, dude. I came like five minutes in, it's a done-deal. You're supposed to be taking me out for a test drive too, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess." Adam's back to laughing again, soft, nervous, but still a laugh.

"Here," Chris says, finally sitting up again and pushing Adam so that he's the one laying down on his back. Chris' pants are still undone at the fly, his boxers sticky and wet from when he came, but he ignores all that and stands on his knees to straddle Adam's hips, sitting on Adam's lap. He can feel Adam's dick right against his ass, even through both of their jeans.

That's new. He certainly doesn't hate the feeling.

Chris places his hands on Adam's pecs and squeezes a little bit, feeling the muscles, lets his fingers play with Adam's chest hair. He slides his hands up and grabs Adam's shoulders, uses them to pull himself forward a little bit, starting a slow grinding rhythm in Adam's lap.

Adam's breathing starts getting heavy, like really heavy — aroused heavy. Chris really likes that, wants Adam to start making more noise, and so he speeds up his pace in Adam's lap. Adam's hands come up to grip at Chris' waist, slide up his sides, practically tickling him, except Chris isn't laughing.

"That's good, Chris," Adam says. "Feels good."

Chris laughs at that, giddy. "Yeah man, I can tell that it feels good."

"Shut up." Adam's blushing, the color going all the way down to his chest. They're both starting to sweat, Chris having got a head start when Adam first got him off. "Do you like it?"

A shiver goes down Chris' spine, making him sit up straight in Adam's lap. "Shit," he says. "I'm getting hard again."

"I wanna see." Adam shoves Chris’ shoulder and since Chris hadn't been expecting it he goes tumbling off Adam like a sack of potatoes.

Chris mutters out _you asshole_ , makes a swipe for Adam, and suddenly they're grappling across the bed, wrestling moves interspaced with a few distracted humps whenever their hips align just right and they remember that they're turned on, that they can do both with one another, the wrestling and the grinding. "Fuck you asshole," Chris says again. "I wanna see you too."

They pull apart and start taking off their pants, Chris having an easier time of kicking his off first, along with his underwear, and then turning to watch as Adam wiggles his way out of his own. It shouldn't be sexy, but it is.

Adam's dick comes into view and Chris thinks to himself, _there it is: a dick_. It's not all that much different from his own, from the kind that he's seen in porn but never really focused on. The main difference is that it's a dick that's going to be inside of him at some point tonight; it's a dick that Chris is really excited to get some hands-on experience with.

"I feel like if your dick touches my dick, it'll be magic," Chris says, half-trying to break the mood, half-serious.

Adam keeps a straight face as he says, "That sounds really special, Chris, thanks for sharing with me."

"I'm all about communic—" and then Adam is laying on top of him, his dick touching Chris' dick, and it just may have been a little bit magic.

"You fucking suck at communication, dude," Adam says, stoic-face finally falling so that he's laughing for the millionth time. "But that's alright, because I guess I suck too. Our future looks really bright."

Chris can't focus on this conversation. He's pressing his hips up, guiding his dick alongside Adam's, enjoying the catch and drag of their skin. "Whatever, man. Do something already."

Adam pushes himself up until his arms are fully extended and he's looking down at Chris. "Do you have stuff?" He asks. Chris reaches behind himself blindly and fishes the tube of lubricant he bought earlier in the week out from under his pillow, handing it to Adam, who takes it with one of his hands, the other one holding up his upper body completely, the muscles of his shoulder and forearm bulging. Adam laughs. "Astroglide, Chris? Seriously?"

"I told Andy we wanted to try out a new brand and he said this is what he and Gus swore by in the 90s."

"You did what?!"

"I really want that sponsorship, Adam," Chris says. "Also your arms looks so good right now, Jesus Christ, what even is your body?"

Adam's cheeks pink up at the compliment and Chris doesn't miss the way he stretches out the length of his spine, the subtle clenching of his fist so that the veins on his arm show a little bit more. "You think so? Because you're like, Men's Health-worthy, dude."

Chris starts to blush too, which is ridiculous because right now their dicks are currently rubbing together and Adam's already wrung one orgasm out of him tonight and is literally holding the thing that's gonna help him get Chris to orgasm number two. "Yeah, I'm like cut or whatever," he says, because it's true. "But you're like — I dunno, man. Thick? You look like how they say those original olympic athletes must’ve looked. Your body's fit because you work with it."

Adam's voice is quiet, shy, when he asks, "You like it?"

"So much, dude," Chris promises. "Let's get back to fuckin' before I come just from looking at you, fuck."

He watches Adam nod, like something's been decided. Then Adam's shifting back onto his knees and settling in between Chris' legs and popping the cap of the bottle open, dripping some of it onto his fingers.

"Lemmie know if anything doesn't feel right," he says, and then he's slipping one finger up inside of Chris.

And it — doesn't hurt at all, not even a little bit. He gives Adam a look with his eyebrows raised way up high on his face, and Adam snorts out a laugh. "Yeah, it usually takes a couple fingers or an actual dick to make you feel a decent stretch, unless you're really, really anxious, I guess? I think the main reason they say that anything up there hurts is so that straight guys don't experiment on themselves and become addicted to those thin dildos. Didn’t Nick explain all this once?"

Chris thinks about Adam having a dildo. Adam buying _him_ a dildo.

He'd mostly been joking about the whole multiple orgasm thing before, but now he's starting to think that they're actually on the table. He blew his load before they'd even started and here he is, damn near ready to go again just from a single finger up his ass and listening to Adam talk about the act of fucking, not even the specifics of Adam fucking him. "This is literally the hottest dirty talk."

Adam turns bashful. "Sorry, I know talking about the mechanics of this isn't the most sexy thing."

"You're a mechanic," Chris says, dumbly, because it’s true and because it seems like a relevant thing to add. "’sides, I wasn't being sarcastic. Start doing something with your finger already, that really did do it for me."

Adam does as Chris asks and starts to finger him properly, gently moving it around left and right, up and down, and then —

"Jesus," Chris says, sucking in a breath, every muscle in his body locking. "Jesus. Gay dudes are fucking geniuses. Oh my god." He can feel when when Adam slips in another finger, and then another, but none of it hurts. It's a stretch that he barely registers as Adam keeps rubbing hard against his prostate. "Put it in," Chris says, starting a chant of, "put it in, put it in — you fucking tease — put it in."

Adam pulls his fingers free and laughs at the pitiful noise Chris makes when he does. "Do you have condoms?" Adam asks.

"Sure as fuck do." Chris fishes around under his pillow again and throws a whole strip at Adam's stupid, smug face.

Adam's tearing one open with his big, stupid, _careful_ fingers and rolling it onto himself. His eyes maintain contact with Chris' the entire time Adam's sliding inside of him, and he goes easily when Chris reaches up to hook his hand behind Adam's neck to drag him down so that they can kiss again, Adam's arms forcing themselves between Chris' back and the mattress, coming to rest on Chris' shoulders, giving Adam something to hold onto, keeping them pressed closed together. Adam wastes no time in starting to move, shallow little grinds that don't take long to turn into proper thrusts, a push and pull that feels so fucking good.

Chris feels something building inside of his body, starting right at the base of his spine, moving outwards, and then he’s coming and nothing happens where he's used to things happening; it's like every single part of his body is coming except for his dick, except then just a little bit of come forces it's way out, dribbling against Chris' stomach, and then Adam's hand is snaking between their stomachs and around him and stroking, stroking, stroking, even as Chris pants out, _no, no, fuck, stop_ , and then Chris comes again, or maybe this is him actually coming, and that out-of-body thing before was just the pre-show, because his dick is pulsing now, slicking Adam's hand where he's still stroking him through it like a goddamn champ, and Chris loves him a lot, more than anyone else.

Adam's been fucking him through all of it, has a scary, intense look on his face that Chris realizes with a jolt could be the lead-up to his o-face, and Chris really, really wants to see Adam's o-face. Adam's seen Chris' own two, maybe three times already and fair's fair.

He decides that he's been embarrassing more times than he can count tonight, more than he'll ever own up to or probably even remember, and it's not like Adam doesn't know Chris is a total skank anyway, so he says, without an ounce of shame, "Hurry up and finish so we can take a nap and go again, babe." Each word is punctuated by a short little grunt thanks to how hard Adam's fucking him.

And that does it, Adam shifts from thrusting back into the shallow grind, his jaw dropping open, the lines of his face smoothing out before he drops his head to hide himself in the curve of Chris' neck, but Chris doesn't mind that one bit.

"You're so easy," Chris says. His voice sounds a mess.

Adam groans, face still hidden in Chris' shoulder. "You suck."

"Not yet, honey." Chris makes his voice sound amicable, teasing. "Maybe after the nap."

They breathe together, Adam spread on top of Chris, both of them sweaty, sated. Chris brings his hands back up to rest against Adam's back, presses his fingers into the muscle there. "Hey, Adam," he says, voice pitched low. "I really like you. Do you wanna give this a go?"

He can feel Adam laugh as he says, "Yeah, okay, I guess. You wore me down." Chris reaches down to slap his ass, hard, in retaliation, and Adam doesn't so much as twitch, which means that Chris is gonna have to use words to win this thing.

"And you don't think of me as a brother anymore?"

Adam groans, moves likes he wants to shift off of Chris, to pull out, "No, you freak. I don't."

Chris tightens his grip, digs his fingers into Adam’s back, so that Adam stays exactly where he is.

**Author's Note:**

> this spiraled and became 11k before i even realized it. thanks so much to my beta and i hope that you enjoy it, recip! happy yuletide.


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